Pet food maker Blue Buffalo prices IPO at $20

Blue Buffalo is the pet products brand sweeping the Nasdaq.

Shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products (BUFF) were surging to trade at $26.95 on Wednesday afternoon, as it makes its initial public offering debut on the Nasdaq.

The Wilton, Connecticut-based company is the second U.S. maker of premium pet foods to list in the past eight months.

Healthy food – for your dog: First, it’s growing rapidly in an overall market that’s sluggish.

Other brands of natural, wholesome pet food include Hill’s Science Diet, Nutro, Eukanuba, Natural Balance, and Canidae.

Blue Buffalo utilizes a marketing strategy that targets “pet parents” and encourages them to view their dogs and cats as true family members deserving of high-quality nutrition. In addition, Blue Buffalo will be issuing up to 35,934 shares to approximately 1,700 non-management employees at no cost to them.

Investors in the pet products industry, including Petmed Express Inc.

ESSF is a newly organized Delaware series limited liability company that has been formed to permit public investment in individual commercial real estate properties, each of which will be held by a separate property-owning subsidiary owned by a separate series of limited liability company interests, or Series, that ESSF intends to establish. In 2010 it began to post a net profit, which briskly rose from $23 million that year to $102 million in 2014. Mr. Schmidt serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd. He has extensive leadership experience with Kraft, Wrigley, Novartis and Nestle. Founder Bill Bishop and his two sons, Billy and Chris, were devastated in 2002 when their young Airedale, named Blue, was diagnosed with cancer at an early age.

Competitive pressures: But for Blue Buffalo to be a strong performer in the future, it will need to stay ahead of its rivals. Just look at how Blue Buffalo said first-quarter sales were hurt by a decrease in pricing driven by “higher levels of promotional activity”.

That concern will be magnified should the economy stumble, forcing consumers to cut back on luxuries like healthy food for non-humans.

Roadrunner readers know that we like to keep our nose to the ground on any developing news in the pet industry. Last year Purina filed a lawsuit alleging Blue Buffalo engaged in false advertising by including chicken and artificial preservatives in certain products.